The Heavens Symbol Analysis

Over the course of the novel, Lewis’s protagonist Dr. Elwin Ransom encounters many new things on his journey to Malacandra (Mars) that complicate the way he approaches the unfamiliar and the unknown. Through his changing perspective on space itself, Ransom is shown that those things that can seem disturbing at first might prove to be good when Ransom gives them a chance. After seeing the great marvels and beauties of the heavens (space), Ransom decides that the “old thinkers” – referring to philosophers and astronomers in the ancient world who had such reverence for this celestial place – are more accurate in their assessment of what the space is like. Rather than the dark and empty void Ransom expects from the conventional scientific conception of space, Ransom finds that space is actually full of light and life. By his return flight to Earth, Ransom actually hopes to be scattered throughout the heavens when he dies to become a part of that life when he dies, becoming a part of all that vitality rather than remaining chained to a dead rock of a planet.

More than representing Ransom’s changing beliefs about things he originally finds horrifying, Ransom’s journey through the heavens is also the start of his spiritual awakening. While gazing at the heavens, he feels far better and healthier than he ever has on Earth. Dr. Weston and Mr. Devine, Ransom’s more scientifically-minded companions, explain this away as the effect of solar rays on their bodies, but Ransom gives it a more spiritual significance. While on Malacandra, Ransom also learns that the entire heavens are the home of the Old One and Maleldil the Young, Lewis’ analogues for God and Jesus in this fantastic world. Lewis thus inserts the Christian ideal of “heaven” as a paradise where men are perfected. Lewis frames the heavens as the site of religious salvation, aligning this place with the beautiful and peaceful depictions of Christian heaven and the site of all men’s hopes and aspirations for a better world.